The Edmonton Elks are 6-1 to start the 2026 CFL season.
Yes, Edmonton. You're reading that right.
The Elks are not only enjoying their strongest start to a CFL season since opening the 2019 campaign with a 6-3 record (that first half marked the second consecutive 6-3 start for the team and was only two years removed from a 7-0 start to the 2017 season), but they also find themselves leading the West Division by four points following a thrilling 36-34 win over the defending Grey Cup champions, the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
In past years, the Elks would have already found themselves in a massive hole, one that would all but offset any positive momentum to close the season. The Elks went 1-6 to open the 2025 season before putting together a modest-but-confident 6-5 run to finish 7-11. That season was preceded by a 2024 campaign that saw the Elks start 0-7 before closing the season on a 7-4 run.
The previous three post-COVID seasons saw the Elks finish with four wins or fewer. That included a 2023 season that saw the Elks start the season 0-9; that run actually capped a 13-game losing streak dating back to the previous campaign.
The start has also been justified by strong performances on the field. Ex-Montreal Alouettes quarterback Cody Fajardo has already eclipsed 2,200 passing yards and 10 passing touchdowns on the season while adding one rushing touchdown. Speaking of the ground game, running back Justin Rankin has recorded 561 rushing yards and six rushing touchdowns to open the season. Elsewhere, wide receiver Austin Mack is tied for the league lead in receiving touchdowns; he's also recorded 579 receiving yards so far this season.
Looking at the defensive side of the ball also justifies the team's start. The Elks entered their game against the Roughriders allowing just 23 points per game; though that total jumps to 24.6 when considering the Roughriders contest, that is still the league's best margin by well over a point per game. The team also entered Week 8 conceding the second-fewest net offensive yards in the league.
For an Elks side that suffered oh so greatly to open the 2020's, the start to the 2026 campaign has done wonders for the franchise. And with intra-divisional wins against the Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and BC Lions already on the board, it's safe to say that the Elks could be on course for a first postseason appearance since 2019, when they qualified in the crossover spot and defeated the Montreal Alouettes in the East Semi-Final.
The Oilers' drought-breaking 2016-17 season is the strongest point of comparison with the Elks' start to the 2026 campaign
Though football and hockey statistics are nowhere close to comparable on the surface level, the fact that the Elks and Edmonton Oilers have both gone through their own rough stretches should very well unite the two teams in terms of lore.
Back in 2017, the Oilers ended an 11-year postseason drought by securing 103 points in the standings while finishing second in the Pacific Division. That 11-year drought was the longest at the time, especially with the Buffalo Sabres' playoff drought only reaching six seasons and with the Detroit Red Wings' absence only just beginning. That's already a point of comparison with this Elks team; should the Elks build off of their 6-1 start, they would be primed to end what is a seven-year playoff drought, one that has become the longest active absence in the CFL.
While the Oilers did better to close that season than to start it, going 18-8-1 during the final third of the season and 14-10-3 through the first third, both records were easily an improvement compared to those of recent seasons. In terms of the first third of the season, the Oilers went 10-15-2 during the first third of the 2015-16 season and 7-15-5 during the opening 27 games of the 2014-15 season. Both seasons marked the introduction of Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl to the NHL; the former saw McDavid enter the league, while Draisaitl was drafted prior to the latter campaign.
The Elks' situation easily applies here; their poor starts to the 2023, 2024, and 2025 seasons effectively nullified any positive end to the campaign. Even with the Oilers ending the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons with respective 9-14-5 and 10-14-3 records, which were all improvements on the corresponding opening 27-game stretches, their poor starts all but ensured that the final third of those seasons would be meaningless.
Individually, four players crossed the 50-point threshold during the 2016-17 campaign; both McDavid and Draisaitl did so with 100 and 77 points respectively, while Jordan Eberle and Milan Lucic rounded out the list. McDavid's 100-point season, which included 30 goals and 70 assists, represented the league's best mark that season.
As it stands, Fajardo is throwing for roughly 327 yards per game; if that pace continues, he would be on pace for 6,000 passing yards on the season, putting him well within range of some of the league's record-holders in that metric. At the same time, he would also be on pace for over 30 passing touchdowns on the season; together, both metrics could easily be seen as McDavid-esque.
Even with a recent "cold streak" in mind, Rankin's hot start has him gaining around 80 yards per game. Not only does he still hold a top-five spot in that metric, but he is also on pace for a 1,500-yard season. Oh, and he's also on pace for 15 rushing touchdowns this season.
As the Elks' remarkable 2026 season approaches its second half, the similarities with the 2016-17 Oilers could very well continue to emerge. And with that, perhaps the end to another drought in Edmonton sports.
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